Impact of Socioeconomic Status on Pretreatment Weight Loss and Survival in Non-Small-Cell Lung Cancer.

Purpose: Socioeconomic status (SES) influences health care outcomes, but the influence of primary payer on cancer-associated wasting is unknown. We hypothesized that primary payer as an indicator of SES would influence pretreatment cancer-associated weight loss and treatment outcomes.

Materials And Methods: Retrospective review of medical records identified 1,366 patients with non-small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC) consecutively treated at a tertiary care health system between January 1, 2006 and December 31, 2013.

Prevalence and Survival Impact of Pretreatment Cancer-Associated Weight Loss: A Tool for Guiding Early Palliative Care.

Purpose: Cancer-associated weight loss is associated with poor prognosis in advanced malignancy; however, its pretreatment prevalence and survival impact are inadequately described in large cohorts. Such data, stratified by tumor type and stage, may facilitate the optimal and timely allocation of complementary care, leading to improvements in patient survival and quality of life.

Methods: We performed a retrospective cohort study of 3,180 consecutively treated adult patients with lung or GI (including colorectal, liver, and pancreatic) cancer.

Implications of weight loss for cancer patients receiving radiotherapy.

Purpose Of Review: Cancer-associated weight loss is a common comorbid condition best described among patients with advanced malignancy receiving systemic therapy, but its relationship to patients undergoing radiation treatment is less well described. We review the interaction between cancer-associated weight loss and radiation treatment as well as its prognostic significance.

Recent Findings: Multiple studies demonstrate a consistent detrimental effect of cancer-associated weight loss either existing prior to treatment or developing during radiotherapy.

Clinical efficacy and safety of surface imaging guided radiosurgery (SIG-RS) in the treatment of benign skull base tumors.

Frameless, surface imaging guided radiosurgery (SIG-RS) is a novel platform for stereotactic radiosurgery (SRS) wherein patient positioning is monitored in real-time through infra-red camera tracking of facial topography. Here we describe our initial clinical experience with SIG-RS for the treatment of benign neoplasms of the skull base. We identified 48 patients with benign skull base tumors consecutively treated with SIG-RS at a single institution between 2009 and 2011.

Primary rhabdomyosarcoma of the pineal gland.

Objectives: To report a case of primary rhabdomyosarcoma (RMS) of the pineal gland in an adult, as well as review the literature on this rare entity.

Methods: The case is compared with previous reports of similar entities, with emphasis on this patient's characteristics and clinical presentation, investigations, and management.

Results: Diagnosis of primary RMS of the pineal gland was based on the presence of strap cells and multinucleated myotube-like structures, as well as tumor cell expression of skeletal muscle markers consistent with myogenic differentiation.

Single-Isocenter Frameless Volumetric Modulated Arc Radiosurgery for Multiple Intracranial Metastases.

Background: Stereotactic radiosurgery (SRS) is a well-accepted treatment for patients with intracranial metastases, but outcomes with volumetric modulated arc radiosurgery (VMAR) are poorly described.

Objective: To report our initial clinical experience applying a novel single-isocenter technique to frameless VMAR for simultaneous treatment of multiple intracranial metastases.

Methods: We performed a retrospective analysis of 15 patients undergoing frameless VMAR for multiple intracranial metastases using a single, centrally located isocenter in the period 2009 and 2011.

Frameless single-isocenter intensity modulated stereotactic radiosurgery for simultaneous treatment of multiple intracranial metastases.

Purpose: Stereotactic radiosurgery (SRS) is well accepted treatment for patients with intracranial metastases, but the role of frameless radiosurgery is not well defined. Here, we describe our clinical experience applying a novel single-isocenter technique to frameless intensity modulated stereotactic radiosurgery (IMRS) for simultaneous treatment of multiple intracranial metastases.

Methods And Materials: Between 2006 and 2012, 100 consecutive patients received frameless IMRS for multiple intracranial metastases using a single, centrally-located isocenter.

Stereotactic body radiation therapy in octogenarians with stage I lung cancer.

Background: The purpose of this study was to describe our clinical experience using stereotactic body radiation therapy (SBRT) to treat medically inoperable stage I non-small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC) in very elderly patients.

Patients And Methods: Twenty-four consecutive octogenarians with stage I NSCLC were treated with SBRT between 2007 and 2011 at a single center. Median prescription dose was 48 Gy (range, 48-56).

EGFR-mediated carcinoma cell metastasis mediated by integrin αvβ5 depends on activation of c-Src and cleavage of MUC1.

Receptor tyrosine kinases and integrins play an essential role in tumor cell invasion and metastasis. We previously showed that EGF and other growth factors induce human carcinoma cell invasion and metastasis mediated by integrin αvβ5 that is prevented by Src blockade. MUC1, a transmembrane glycoprotein, is expressed in most epithelial tumors as a heterodimer consisting of an extracellular and a transmembrane subunit.

RBBP9: a tumor-associated serine hydrolase activity required for pancreatic neoplasia.

Pancreatic cancer is one of the most lethal malignancies. To discover functionally relevant modulators of pancreatic neoplasia, we performed activity-based proteomic profiling on primary human ductal adenocarcinomas. Here, we identify retinoblastoma-binding protein 9 (RBBP9) as a tumor-associated serine hydrolase that displays elevated activity in pancreatic carcinomas.

Cultural competency in medical education: demographic differences associated with medical student communication styles and clinical clerkship feedback.

Purpose: We tested the significance of associations among students' demographics, communication styles, and feedback received during clerkships.

Methods: US medical students who completed at least one required clinical clerkship were invited between April and July 2006 to complete an anonymous, online survey inquiring about demographics, communication styles (assertiveness and reticence), feedback (positive and negative), and clerkship grades. The effects of self-identified race/ethnicity, gender, and generation (immigrant, first- or second-generation American) and their 2-way interactions on assertiveness, reticence, total positive and total negative feedback comments were tested using factorial analysis of covariance, controlling for age, clerkship grades, and mother's and father's education; pairwise comparisons used simple contrasts.

"Making the grade:" noncognitive predictors of medical students' clinical clerkship grades.

Objectives: Because clinical clerkship grades are associated with resident selection and performance and are largely based on residents'/attendings' subjective ratings, it is important to identify variables associated with clinical clerkship grades.

Methods: U.S.

Reduced PU.1 expression causes myeloid progenitor expansion and increased leukemia penetrance in mice expressing PML-RARalpha.

PU.1 is a member of the ETS family of transcription factors that is known to be important for hematopoietic development. Recently, haploinsufficiency for PU.

Expression profiling of murine acute promyelocytic leukemia cells reveals multiple model-dependent progression signatures.

Leukemia results from the expansion of self-renewing hematopoietic cells that are thought to contain mutations that contribute to disease initiation and progression. Studies of the gene expression profiles of human acute myeloid leukemia samples has allowed their classification based on the presence of translocations and French-American-British subtypes, but it is not yet clear whether their molecular signatures reflect the initiating mutations or mutations acquired during progression. To begin to address this question, we examined the expression profiles of normal murine promyelocyte-enriched samples, nontransformed murine promyelocytes expressing human promyelocytic leukemia-retinoic acid receptor alpha (PML-RARalpha) fusion gene, and primary acute promyelocytic leukemia cells.